“Since last year, the leaders of the terrorist organization have given instructions to burn the forests, and the fires in Turkey have doubled,” Erdogan said during his live speech to NTV from the tourist resort of Marmaris on the Aegean coast.
The Turkish head of state announced the arrest of a man allegedly linked to hundreds of fires recorded since Wednesday in a dozen provinces off the Mediterranean and Aegean coastlines, but did not disclose details of his identity or alleged motives.
“It is our duty to find those who burn our forests and make them suffer,” the President added.
For several days, several ultra-nationalist daily newspapers speculated about the possibility that the fires were caused by acts of sabotage and attributed to Murat Karayilan, leader of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Kurdish guerrillas, calling for the use of fire as a political weapon.
In turn, the opposition accused the government of failing to take preventive measures and invest in fire extinguishing means such as tank planes, despite frequent fires in Turkey.
On Friday, Erdogan noted that “five or six tanker aircraft” were used to fight the fire, some of which were sent by Russia and Ukraine.
High temperatures in the eastern Mediterranean, which have reached 40 degrees in southern Turkey and will continue in the coming days, have contributed to the spread of fires in the Eurasian country, as well as in Greece and Italy, where several regions have been hit by fires that have destroyed homes and homes. inflicted several injuries.
